Lily
by Churcoise
Summary: Nick Miller reflects on his daughter. Future fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Lily Miller cursed like a sailor.**

Nick _knows_ she got this from him. It started when they received a phone call from the principal on Lily's behalf.

"_Nick, she's five!" _

"_Yeah, but what five year old do you know calls bullies 'Devil's Asses'?"_

"_Ugh, that is so not the point right now Miller!"_

**Nick Miller's daughter likes museums.**

Especially the ones with huge, naked sculptures of Greek warriors.

**Nick Miller's daughter is very naïve.**

She takes after her mother with this one. Even though she will waste no time with telling off a son of a bitch (for a good reason, always), she still doesn't understand why she should not wear tank tops and short shorts to school. At least while he's around.

"_Dad, its really hot out! I'm just wearing what's suited for this weather!"_

"_I don't care! You're gonna get looks, and I'm not a fan of that!"_

"_Oh my gosh, nobody's going to be looking at me! They'll be looking at the board, learning. That's what we go to school for!"_

**Nick Miller's daughter is a Greek mythology nerd.**

He knew he shouldn't have let Jess watch Hercules all those times Lily was being nursed.

**Nick Miller's daughter is the spitting image of her mother.**

Thank God for that one. Although she does go into turtle face mode every now and then. Mostly when she tastes something bad.

**Nick Miller's daughter doesn't have many friends.**

Maybe he should (kindly) tell her to stop doing her Judy Garland impressions, and go for a party trick that isn't so dated.

**Nick Miller's daughter is scared of boys.**

Now, he doesn't mind this one so much. In an ideal world, she'll want to stay with him on Saturday nights and watch bad television, but he knows that eventually this won't be the case. Soon enough, she'll have suitors buzzing the doorbell every minute, and there won't be anything he can do to stop them, which kind of freaks him out. But he'll call Winston and Schmidt for back up.

**Nick Miller's daughter gets along very well with her mother. Like, really well.**

"_What are you guys even doing? Its eight o' clock on a Saturday morning."_

"_We're going to go busking in the park and then go to the aquarium! Wanna come? We could use a tenor."_

"_Yeah, no thanks, I think I'll sit this one out."_

**Nick Miller's daughter is very emotional.**

Those damn animal shelter commercials with that stupid song. Every damn time…

**Nick Miller's daughter hardly ever gets angry. But when she does, watch out.**

He watched the whole scene from afar.

"_You're so fat, you probably go behind McDonald's after it closes to eat the left over grease!"_

"_Hey! Don't talk about him that way. He's just a kid. He can't help his size."_

"_Oh, well if it isn't Lily Miller, coming in to save the day. What are you gonna do, tell me to be play nice? 'If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all', or some bullshit like that?" _

"_Oh, you know what, you got me there, clever boy. Are you a psychic?" Lily stepped closer to the boy, until she was a mere few inches away from his face. She smiled sweetly. "I can and will be your worst. Psychological. Nightmare," she said through gritted teeth. She noticed a trace of fear in the boy's eyes. And then it was as if her whole demeanor changed. "Have a nice day!" she grinned, and then went skipping off to meet her dad at the car. Unbeknownst to her, he was watching the whole thing unfold, leaning against the hood, mouth agape._

"_What did you just do?"_

"_Oh, nothing. Just told someone to never mess with me again," she replied nonchalantly, slipping in. "Hey, can we stop at Sonic?"_

Now he knows that while he can and will swoop in to rescue her at any time, she can take care of herself. And it's kind of a nice feeling for him. He told Jess the story when she got home. She just laughed, and got a faraway look in her eyes. Perhaps it's hereditary?

**Nick Miller's daughter loves dresses. **

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems. Maybe he could try and get her into flannel…

**Nick Miller's daughter likes the taste of beer.**

_He came home from a late shift one day to find his fifteen-year-old daughter, clad in a pajama set, drinking a corona on the couch watching a Bear's game that Nick had recorded the previous day._

"_Whoa, what do you think you're doing?" He asked, walking over to her, snatching the glass bottle out of her hand. Lily snapped out of her catatonic state._

"_Hey, I was drinking that!"_

"_Why were you drinking beer? First off, you're fifteen, for Christ's sake. Second of all, that was my last beer!"_

"_I'm sorry that you have a kid who is basically the epitome of you!"_

"_Lil, more than anything in the world, I do NOT want you to be the 'epitome' of me!"_

"_Why not? You're kind of cool. Besides, I like the taste. I feel like a cool biker guy or one of the brother's from Sons of Anarchy."_

"_Okay, you are definitely not the epitome of me. That was all your mother, right there."_

"_Ugh! Why can't you accept that I'm a little bit like you? Don't you want your kid to take after you in some form?" At this, Nick sighed, ran his hands over his face, and sat down on the couch._

"_Look, I love you. You know that, right? And I know that you live around me, but that does not mean that you have to inhabit any of my…habits. I used to kind of be an alcoholic. Your mother helped me get passed that stage in my life. I just don't want that to happen to you. I don't want you to have to have another person get you out of a fog that wasted a few years of your life." Lily looked at him, wide-eyed and all. _

"_I'm sorry. I didn't really know…"_

"_Its okay. What you could do right now though, is brush your teeth and go to bed. The game will be here in the morning. As for the Corona, I'm throwing it out. Okay?" Lily sighed, and looked everywhere but her father's eyes. "Hey, look at me when I'm talking to you," he said sternly. She looked up at him, meekly._

"_Okay." _


	2. Chapter 2

**Nick Miller's daughter is scared of butterflies.**

'Nuff said.

**Nick Miller's daughter can defend herself, in her own way.**

It was one night at a party that her friend Amy convinced her to go to.

_The room was dark and smoky. Teens in mini skirts and half opened t-shirts stumbled around, yelling and laughing and crying and whatnot. She, on the other hand, stood idly by in the corner, leafing through an old Ladies' Home Journal that was discarded in a drawer. _

"_Hey sexy, wanna dance?" She spun around so quickly she almost fell over. The boy was tall, dark, and yes, on the handsome side. He reeked of Bud Lite. Lily Miller knew her beers._

"_Oh, um, no, that's okay. But thanks for the offer!" She replied as chipper as possible, trying to stop the nerves from piling up in her stomach. She went back to reading, or pretending, at this point._

"_Whaddya mean, honey? C'mon, lets go. I love this song," he said drunkenly, pulling on her arm gently._

"_This song doesn't even have words! Its just a bunch of beats mixed together…" Lily said quietly, as she was dragged onto the dance floor. Clearly this boy never took 'no' for an answer. He started grinding up against her, putting his hands all over her lemon yellow dress._

"_Hey! What are you doing?!" Lily squeaked, struggling to get away from him._

"_Relax babe, we're just havin' some fun," the boy said, tripping slightly._

"_Look, mister! My body is a museum! You can look, but don't touch, please. Or get too close. And…no flash photography!" Lily darted away as quickly as she could, throwing herself into the stranger's front yard. There was only one thing she could do. She took out her phone and dialed it._

"_Hi, dad? Um, can you pick me up? I kind of want to leave but everyone in there is drunk so nobody can drive me home."_

He was there five minutes later.

**Nick Miller's daughter needs to learn how to be discreet.**

It was a nice spring evening, and Jess and Nick were propped up on the couch. Lily came out of her room in a button down red dress clad with black heels, her long brown hair hanging like drapes around her shoulders.

"_Whoa, you look nice! Where are you going?" Jess asked, smiling at her daughter. Lily stammered for words._

"_I'm, um, I'm meeting Amy and a few other people. We're going to a…Indonesian film festival." Lily looked everywhere but at her parents, shifting around uncomfortably. _

"_Oh, how fun! Well, you keep safe now!" Jess said with a wink, shaking her finger at Lily. Lily smiled ever so slightly. _

Of course, Nick could always see right through her.

"_An Indonesian film festival? Really, Lily?" Nick got up from the couch, walking over to Lily slowly. She gulped._

"_Mhhmm," she replied with uncertainty. Nick laughed bitterly. _

"_Are you sure you're not lying? Would you like to plead guilty to the court-"_

"_Oh Nick, don't get all lawyer-y on her! She's telling the truth. Right, Lil?" Jess looked at her daughter pointedly, big blue eyes gleaming with naivety. _

If Lily was anything, she was a terrible liar.

"_Um…yup. So I best be on my way then…" she trailed off, slowly reaching for the door knob._

"_False! You are lying! You are not going anywhere until we know where you're going, young lady!" Nick called in frustration._

"_Nick, she's telling-"_

"_No she's not-"_

"_OKAY! Geez, fine. I'm lying, okay? You caught me red handed!" Lily mocked. _

"_Don't sass me!" Nick yelled._

"_Lily, why would you lie to us? You know its okay to tell us stuff, what you're up to and all. We won't judge. Unless it's drinking. Or smoking. Then we may need to have a talk."_

"_GUYS! Ugh. Look, Jack is waiting for me downstairs so-"_

"_Jack? Who's Jack?" Nick asked, suspicion clearly evident on his face. Lily's face flushed in embarrassment. _

"_Oh, do you mean Jack from shop class?" Jess said saucily. Lily giggled._

"_Yeah," she said quietly._

"_Hold on. Who is this Jack? And how did I not know you were taking shop class?" Nick asked._

"_He's just this guy, dad. He plays the saxophone too. You might have seen him at one of the games?" Nick stared off into the distance. Was Jack that guy she laughed with on the sidelines until it was halftime?_

"_Why didn't you tell me sooner, Lil? Why did you tell your mom but not me?" Nick looked kind of bummed for a moment._

"'_Cause I knew you'd freak out. C'mon 'rents, I gotta go! The dinner reservation is in like ten minutes!"_

"_He got you a dinner reservation? Heck, when I was your age the only thing I could do to impress a girl was show off my collection of beer bottles under my bed," He looked off for a moment, only to be startled back into reality when he heard the front door slam._

"_Where'd she go?! Did she just up and leave?"_

"_Oh my God, Nick! You are so insensitive sometimes! She 'up and left' because of you! Don't you realize that? Give her some space, man," Jess said, exasperated._

"_Don't ever call me 'man' again. Okay?" Jess laughed._

"_Okay. But we are going to finish watching the movie. And you are not, under ANY circumstances, going to call Lily. Or stalk them. Got it mister?" She looked at him as threatening as she could. Wasn't too easy. Nick rolled his eyes._

"_Fine. But it doesn't mean I have to like it."_


End file.
